IRA gunman ‘shot civilian dead’, claims former soldier

AN IRA gunman sheltering in a doorway shot a civilian dead at a barricade on Bloody Sunday, a former paratrooper said yesterday.

Soldier U, giving evidence at the Saville Inquiry in London, described in his statement how he saw an arm appear holding a pistol from the Rossville Flats.

The soldier, then a private in Mortar Platoon of the Parachute Regiment, said the gunman blindly fired two rounds in quick succession, injuring an old man in the arm at the Rubble Barricade. He said one of the bullets killed a young man standing nearby.

“As the other shot rang out (probably the second) the young lad’s head jerked backwards. The impression I had at the time was that the shot had hit him. At that moment, the old man turned the young boy round, laid him down and shouted something like ‘he’s dead’. He then wandered away, looking like he was in a daze.”

His statement supported claims by the British Army’s legal team that the IRA shot dead some of its own people on Bloody Sunday. However, there is no evidence of a young man sustaining a fatal head wound at the Rubble Barricade on Bloody Sunday.

The tribunal, which has interviewed more than 800 witnesses, is investigating the events of January 30, 1972 when 13 civilians were shot dead by paratroopers during a Civil Rights march in the Bogside area of Derry. A 14th man later died of his wounds.

At least four of the dead were shot dead at or close to the Rubble Barricade built by protesters across Rossville Street in the Bogside.

Soldier U, in his statement described seeing two soldiers picking up bodies from the middle of the barricade.

“I have a vivid picture of one of the bodies. He was a young lad and he had been shot in the head. As the soldiers carried him past me, his face was very close to mine and he was looking right at me.”

He also described how he struck a civilian with his weapon while arresting him. Lawyers for the inquiry identified the man as Charles Canning, who has given evidence of how he was beaten and kicked by paratroopers.

Soldier U denied threatening to shoot Mr Canning or kicking him as he lay on the ground.